DETERMINING THE VALUE OF MAN  

Man’s value system is so different than God’s. 

    Redemption has always been just a religious word to me and remained outside my vocabulary until one day it occurred to me that God bought me from the enemy. To redeem someone is to re-buy them. The Hebrew (Strong’s Concordance Heb 1350) means to “buy back.” It comes from the Hebrew word Heb 6299, “To preserve, to rescue, to deliver.”

    Then I found this verse, which made me helped me to realize what it means to be redeemed:

"He saved them from the hand of him who hated them, and redeemed them from the hand of the enemy." (Psalms 106:10)   

    God sought me and bought me, because He wanted me. He wanted me because He can see value in me that others cannot. When He bought me, it caused me to be transferred from one kingdom to another: 

“He has delivered us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.” (Colossians 1:13,14)    

     This concept has vast implications when it comes to trusting in God’s protection and provision for us. I had seen the Hope Diamond at the Smithsonian Institute. It is so well protected you can hardly see it. We only purchase or protect what is really of value to us. Now that we are His, God does the same thing with us. 

“But now, thus says the LORD, who created you, O Jacob, And He who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; You are Mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you.  When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, nor shall the flame scorch you.” (Isaiah 43:1,2)    

      He redeemed me because He loves me and had compassion on the deep bondage I was in. He saw that the one who owned me hated me and was only bent on destroying me.  

“In all their affliction He was afflicted, and the Angel of His Presence saved them; In His love and in His pity He redeemed them; And He bore them and carried them all the days of old.” (Isaiah 63:9)    

   I think one reason people live in sin is because they underestimate their value to God. He sent a prophet to remind Israel of this when they were living in deep immorality: 

 “You have sold yourselves for nothing...” (Isaiah 52:1) 

    We don’t usually think of ourselves as being this valuable. In fact, to medical science the human body is only worth about $50.00. Yet Isaiah said,   “You have sold yourself for naught, I will buy you without money.” (Isaiah 52:3)   

    The apostle Paul reminded the Corinthians of the same thing. He told them to live clean because they were bought with a price.) 

"Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body.  Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's. " (1 Corinthians 6:18-20)     

MAN’S VALUE SYSTEM 

    One of the first things I had to understand in order to appreciate my own redemption was to see the vast difference between God’s value system and man’s.  Once when Jesus was walking through a village, He pointed out that sparrow, one of the smallest and simplest birds could be bought two for a farthing, which was one of the smallest coins. (Matthew 10:29).  According to Luke 12:16, one could buy five for two farthings, which meant the more you bought the cheaper they got. This represented man’s estimate of the worth of little birds, but in God’s economy not one fell to the ground without His knowledge. Imagine the God of the universe attending the funeral of a sparrow.  

     Jesus then pointed out that we were worth more to God than many sparrows.  

     He went on to compare this the Father’s value of human life compared to man’s value by saying, "They will kill you for no reason but that even the very hairs of your head under the careful bookkeeping of Heaven.”

    It is obvious that His value system is different than ours because people don’t do this kind of inventory for such things as a single hair. Yet every time we gain or lose an individual hair He has to change His accounting, which shows that God’s interest is current and constant. 

WHAT IS PRECIOUS TO MAN 

     You can tell what is precious to man by how he protects it and how much he is willing to pay for it: 

     Yet God says a good wife who serves the Lord is worth far more than rubies. (Proverbs 31:10)   

    People despise our faith in God, laughing at us and counting it as foolishness, yet on the Day of Judgment a little faith in Christ will be the most precious commodity ever known to man. The smelting of our faith is precious to God, and worth more than gold. (1 Peter 1:7)

     HIDING HIS TREASURES 

     God has the peculiar knack for hiding his greatest treasures in the least likely places. 

PRECIOUS FOR PRECIOUS 

     The soul of man is so precious that all the riches in the world could not redeem one.  That is what is says in Psalms 49:6-8: 

“Those who trust in their wealth and boast in the multitude of their riches, none of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him; for the redemption of their souls is precious, and it shall cease forever...”  

    Another way to think of this verse is, “If all the riches people in the world put all of their great wealth in one place, all of it combined could not buy one soul, for the redemption of a soul is precious because it comes from God and is eternal.” 

     Our spirits came from Him in the first place. He breathed into the nostrils of Adam. That’s the part that is truly valuable. In fact, Jesus gave up His spirit to purchase ours. God wanted us so bad that He paid full price for us.

    Let this thought sink in: We are as valuable to God as His own Son’s Blood.   

“Forasmuch as ye know ye were not redeemed with corruptible things such as silver and gold, from your vain conversation... But with the precious blood of Christ, as the lamb without blemish and without spot.”  (1 Peter 1:15,16) 

      He had to redeem us with blood because we could not be redeemed with things such as silver or Gold. It’s not precious to God. A precious soul bought with a precious price.  The thought is overwhelming. This is the estimated value of a soul before it is cleaned up!  This is what we were worth before we knew Him, when were still cursing His name and resisting His love.  We often appraise people’s worth by what they do. God thinks we are valuable because we are.     The apostle Peter told us to “Honor all men…” (1 Peter 2:17) 

   This word honor is a Greek word (GK 5093) that means to estimate, or fix the value on something, which causes us to give honor, reverence or veneration for it. If we changed our value of people, not by what they can do for us or what they do in life, we might be more motivated to help them come to know their redeemer. 

LET THE REDEEMED OF THE LORD SAY SO 

    There are people all around us who do not know how precious they are to God.  The worst criminal and the drug addict have the same value to God that I do, they just don’t know it. We need to tell them. We need to show them. We need to treat them as being valuable, not because of what they do, but by the fact that they are.    

    The apostle Paul demonstrated this truth when he told the Thessalonians that he had been so…

”… affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted unto you, not the Gospel of God only but also our own soul, because you were precious unto us.” (1 Thessalonians 2:8, Paraphrased) 

   Now consider this: This is how he felt about them while they were yet entirely perverted pagans, not new born baby Christians. Who do you feel that way about? When I first read this, and re-read it, I realized that I was a long ways away from feeling what the Lord feels in His heart towards people. 

    When people come to trust that we value them, they will respond to what we believe.  

 IT IS WHERE OUR SOULS SONG COMES FROM 

“My lips shall greatly rejoice when I sing to You, and my soul, which You have redeemed.” (Psalms 71:23)    

“And they sang a new song, saying: “You are worthy to take the scroll, And to open its seals; For You were slain, and have redeemed us to God by Your blood Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation...” (Revelation 5:9)   

“...to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He has made us accepted in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence...” (Ephesians 1:6,7)  

 

 

 

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